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Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti speaks to the crowd before the Michigan Supreme Court hears oral arguments for the People v Elisah Kyle Thomas on Wed., Oct. 25, 2017 at Cass Tech High School in Detroit. (Photo: Elaine Cromie, Special to the Free Press)

Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti faced a combative group of lawmakers Thursday during a hearing in Lansing in which they accused him of blatantly disregarding two provisions of a state law that was enacted last year.

A closer look at the law, though, shows that neither Vitti nor the district was charged with complying with one of those provisions.

That law — a $617-million financial package that resolved the debt that had crushed public schools in the city for years — requires the creation of an A-F letter grading system to rate schools in the city, as well as the creation of a merit pay system for teachers.

Vitti - in his first appearance before lawmakers - testified before a joint meeting of the House Education Reform Committee and the House Appropriations school and education subcommittees. After a brief overview of the district's progress, the exchanges between Vitti and Republican lawmakers quickly became testy.

Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw Township — who has previously called for the dismantling of the public school system in Detroit — asked Vitti why he hadn't yet created an A-F grading system for the district. Several more Republican lawmakers piled on with that criticism.

"The law is the law," Rep. Daniela Garcia, R-Holland, told Vitti.

The problem? The state law that requires such an accountability system — for the district and charter schools in the city — specifically put the responsibility for creating it on the state School Reform Office, which is part of the Michigan Department of Education, and says nothing about the Detroit district playing a role in creating it. Garcia introduced the legislation in 2016.

Garcia seemed to acknowledge that fact near the end of the hearing, saying "I don't solely put the blame on you," but that came after multiple lawmakers chided Vitti for not following the law.

The A-F grading system for schools in the city was supposed to be in place by the beginning of this school year. When the law was enacted the school reform office was part of a different state department. This summer, it was moved to MDE.

"When that office was transferred back to the Michigan Department of Education, we began working on the continued development of that A-F system for Detroit schools," said Bill DiSessa, a spokesman for the MDE.

That work is coinciding with a broader effort to launch a new accountability system for all schools in Michigan. That system will provide transparency dashboards that will give parents and the community a host of data and information on every school in the state. That new system is expected to launch in early 2018.

Vitti said after the hearing that he didn't think it would be appropriate to respond to lawmaker questions about the A-F system by simply reminding them that the school reform office is responsible for creating it, "and then skirting their questions."

Besides, he wanted to make a key point: That while he's not opposed to an A-F system, he believes it shouldn't be restricted to Detroit

"I wanted to make sure that that concern was shared," Vitti said.

The lawmakers may have had a more valid criticism of one piece of the law that the district hasn't complied with — one requiring the creation of a merit pay system.

Specifically, the law says the district — along with charter schools in the city — must develop "a method of compensation for its teachers and school administrators that includes job performance and job accomplishments as a significant factor in determining compensation and additional compensation."

That piece of the law, however, doesn't appear to have a deadline for compliance, though in one sentence it notes that any teacher or administrator hired after the A-F system was in place must be evaluated using the merit pay system.

Vitti said that the district had not yet created the merit pay system. He said he's not philosophically opposed to it. But he told lawmakers that other issues have been a priority since he became superintendent in May, including the 450 teacher vacancies he had to deal with in his first days on the job. The number of vacancies is now down to "roughly 170," Vitti said.

Rep. Julie Alexander, R-Hanover, told Vitti his "blatant disregard for the law ... is disturbing to me."

But Vitti said he isn't blatantly disregarding the law.

"Now that things have stabilized from a staffing point of view, I think we can address these issues," Vitti said.

And he said later that instituting merit pay isn't at the top of the list of steps schools must take to see true reform.

"There’s no research that shows that merit pay leads to higher retention, recruitment and student achievement," Vitti said. "It can be one of the pieces to the overall puzzle that needs to be put in place."

But it's not as important as training teachers so they understand academic standards, choosing the right curriculum and assessments, helping principals become better leaders and offering services that help students both in and outside of school.

He also faced intense criticism from Garcia and Kelly over the district's unwillingness to allow a charter school to purchase a former district school building. The district no longer owns the building, but a deed restriction gives the district the ultimate say if the building will be used as a school.

Kelly noted that a recent state law bars those types of deed restrictions, and when Vitti said he disagrees with that law, Kelly accused Vitti of being willing to violate laws he doesn't agree with. The charter school has sued the district.

Vitti said the law "usurps the authority of locally elected school boards and taxpayers ... It restricts the ability of boards and superintendents to ensure that when property is sold, there's a long-term benefit to the taxpayers."

Vitti said he doesn't take the criticism from lawmakers personally. He said it's a reflection of "historical ideological differences regarding K-12 education," and longstanding distrust between the Legislature and school district.

"What everyone wants are Republicans and Democrats to work together to create K-12 education reform that is linked to best practices and supports children at scale. That’s not happening right now. Today’s meeting was a reflection of that."

He said he wakes up every day committed to the 50,000 children DPSCD educates and to rebuilding the district. That’s what he keeps in mind when it comes to developing relationships with lawmakers.

“What I can’t do is go to Lansing and simply accept proposed legislation which is not in the best interests of DPSCD, its taxpayers and its children in order to get along.”